In recent hearings on the Keystone Pipeline, Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin) invoked nearly all the climate change denial talking points in his exchange with climatologist James Hansen, director of the Program on Climate Science. Below is one of the more pivotal moments in the senate hearing:
Johnson: "I live in Wisconsin. There were 200-foot-thick glaciers in Wisconsin. How do you explain change before man ever had a carbon footprint?"
Hansen: "The statement that you just made is blatantly false—"
Johnson: "How do you explain—"
Hansen: "We do know."
Johnson: "How do you explain climate change that occurred 10,000 years ago before man had a carbon print?"
Hansen: "There are variations in the earth’s orbital elements. The eccentricity of the earth’s orbit, the time in the season in which it’s closest to the sun."
Johnson: "Those variations just end right now, so now it’s all man-made?"
Hansen: "No one has said it is all man-made. However, the man-made effect is now dominant, And we can measure that, because we can measure the energy balance of the planet, and we can see that there’s more energy coming in than there is going out. So therefore, the planet is going to continue to get warmer. It doesn't mean each year is going to get warmer, because there are natural fluctuations. But this decade is going to be warmer than the last one, and the following one will be still warmer."
Johnson: "I agree with Ms. Harbert, I think the science is far from settled."
Excerpt from: Capital Times "Ron Johnson on climate change: 'The science is far from settled"
What can we make of this all too predictable encounter between climate scientists and the increasingly assertive deniers?
Read More